The adventures of Dorran
by SirDwarf
Summary: Sword art online isn't just a Japanese crisis, being released internationally the lives of 10,000 is on the line. For Ex WoW British born player, Dorran. He must face the challenges of the death game fight for survival. A new story for the constantly expanded universe brings a new insight to those nameless 10,000 players trapped inside with Dorran as the main protagonist.
1. The depths of the Molten core

**Authors notes: **

Hey this is my first published story online so sorry in advance for any spelling and grammar mistakes, I've done my best to proof read each part but mistakes happen :) Secondly this is a Sword art online fan-fiction featuring new characters I've created with cameo appearances from characters from the anime. In a world with 10,000 players so many players are unnamed making room for lots of interesting stories so once again, thanks!

**Disclaimer: **

I own no rights to Sword Art Online, all credit goes to Reki Kawahara for creating this amazing universe.

I have no intention to profit from this in anyway, this project is solely a hobby and a way for me to express my love for Sword Art Online.

**Chapter 1 World of Warcraft – Molten core**

Ragnaros a huge fire demon covered in molten armour carrying a large spiked hammer towered over the raiding party. A raiding party comprised of 4 tanks, 6 healers and 10 dps stood their ground despite the size of Ragnaros.

The year is 2022 and despite World of Warcraft being around since 2004 its community is still large, it's the games 18th anniversary and like most anniversary's players are given the option to enter one of the first raids placed into the game shortly after its release. Molten core has always been one of the longest and most difficult raids in World of Warcraft, taking roughly 4-5 hours to complete and filled with iconic bosses, this is one of the more enduring raids available and with legendary items on the line, the stakes couldn't be higher!

Amongst the crowd of players, 2 players stood there with courage in their hearts. The first is a gnome shadow priest known as Traional, wearing dark purple robes with a hood which covers his face and a long wooden staff with a black jewel at the end his gear is well suited to dealing with these kinds of bosses. Next to him a Dwarf hunter called Dafti, wearing iron scaled armour, furred leather boots, iron shoulder pads, leather gloves and a hood which hangs from his scaled chest armour, his face is battered and wrinkly which shows the dwarves experience in the field of battle. Brown matted hair with a short ponytail at the back with a braided beard at the front. In his left hand is a bow, the centre of the bow is a skull of a fallen troll with dark wood making up the rest of the bow. To his right is his trusted companion, a boar known as Pork Chops with grey skin and large brown tusks, Pork chops stood readily next to his owner.

Ragaros stood there, fire blazing out of his demonic armour, he roared violently which echoed throughout the dark cave, it bounced of rocks and walls in an attempt to scare the raiding party. He's standing in the middle of a molten lake, a circular piece of solid ground surrounds him and only a small passage way allows the raid party to enter this part of the dungeon, the passage remains closed until the raid manages to take out all 9 other bosses.

The raiding party stood firm, a paladin known as Markeen, wearing shiny golden plated armour with a helmet in the shape of an eagle, in his left hand is a golden hammer and on his right hand is a golden shield lined with painted blue emblems of the Alliance. Markeen moved forwards and faced the raid members, "Right guys here we are, I know it's been a long raid today and we've successfully managed to defeat all the other bosses so congratulations to all of you, so far we've worked really hard" Everyone started clapping at the announcement commenting of various looted items they've collected. "So we've arrived at the infamous Ragnaros, like you know, this dungeon hasn't been available since the 10 year anniversary so I know most you probably haven't done this before, I've been playing this since WoW was first released, so I'm pretty old and experienced" He chuckled to himself slightly.

"What are the tactics?" A member of the raid asked interrupting him slightly.

"Right, tactics, Ragnaros has several abilities you need to watch out for which includes debuffs, attacks that deal high amounts of damage and an ability called 'Wrath of Ragnaros' which knocks everyone back, this will send everyone flying and possibly throw you into the molten lake behind us, over there is a wall which will stop you falling in lava if you stand near it. I want all the healers and ranged dps over there" he pointed over to a rocked wall a few yards away, "I will do the main tanking but I'll need to switch with other tanks if I'm de-buffed to much, I will shout commands if needed, understood?"

Everyone began moving over to the wall which he instructed earlier, Dafti whistled to Pork Chops to follow him over to the group of players lining up next to the wall. Dafti standing next to Traional waited patiently, "I'm getting tired" Dafti said yawning.

"You're not the only one, I had quite a bad sleep last night so I'm getting tired" Traional added, Traional placed his staff on the floor and sat down on the rough floor below, Dafti followed suit and rested his larger body next to Traionals smaller figure.

"This is the last day of the event, isn't it?" Dafti asked looking slightly puzzled.

"It is, we haven't had much time to play recently but its good we managed to find a group in the end"

During this time Markeen was talking to fellow tanks in a small circle, each tank wearing silver armour with various different helmets, several tanks were wearing leather armour with long staffs, and these tanks are druids. Druids is a very diverse class which allows the player to heal, dps or tank. The striking feature of druids is the ability to change form to suit various roles, if the druid wants to heal then it can transform into a tree which grants healing bonuses, a moonkin which is like a large walking own to dps and a bear if it wants to tank, throughout the raid group, druids filled the ranks taking on various roles but this is only a small portion of the raid group.

**Molten core raid classes-**

Warrior- 2 (2 tanking)

Paladin – 4 (1 tanking, 2 dps, 1 healing)

Hunter- 2 (2dps)

Druid- 3 (1 tank, 2 healing)

Priest - 4 (3 healing, 1dps)

Monk- 1 (1dps)

Mage- 2 (2dps)

Warlock- 1 (1dps)

Everyone got into position, Merkeen stood at the front with 2 warriors and a large black bear, behind stood the melee dps which comprised of 2 paladins and a monk, behind these loosely stood the ranged dps which comprised mages, warlocks, hunters and priests and at the very back stood the healers which comprised of a paladin, 2 druids in tree form and 3 priests.

"Healers, focus on the tanks and heal dps if needed, we want to avoid losing anyone, dps deal everything you have against him, don't hold back and tanks, listen to my instructions" Markeen commanded raising his voice.

Everyone nodded in agreement and prepared themselves, Paladins, druids and priests began buffing everyone to increase various stats, buffing spells glowed blue and yellow as different abilities were being used on everyone. Markeen then initiated a ready check, an interface which allows the raid leader to check to see if all the raid members are ready, a box appeared of Dafti's screen which read, "Are you ready, Yes/ No" Dafti click Yes with his mouse.

On the left screen is a box that lists all the raid members, as soon as the ready check was initiated ticks lit up the screen as everyone was ready to begin battle.

Markeen smiled and charged at Ragnaros, followed by the other melee dps, yelling during the charge he used hammer of wrath, a hammer glowing in magical energy hurled into Ragnaros hitting him in the face. Ragnaros yelled in anger and attempted to slam his hammer into Markeen. Although you can't avoid being hit in WoW the constant healing enabled him to continue attacking.

The rest of the tanks and dps slammed into Ragnaros, a monk used serpent kick with sent him flying into Ragnaros, he then begam using various martial arts based movies while the rest of the melee users began swinging their weapons.

During the charge the ranged dps began, arcane missiles followed by shadow bolts slammed into Raganos, Pork Chops followed the melee dps into battle while Dafti covered him with Chimaera shot followed by several aimed shots.

Traional used debuffs and smites against Ragnaros dealing a descent amount of damage, the dps flow was steady and Markeen was managing to hold his ground against the strong attacks by Ragnaros, he channelled defensive abilities and aggro based abilities to prevent Ragnaros from going out of control.

The battle waged on, by now a third of Ragnaros's health is taken of, the party stood strong and continued to heal high amounts of damage, Ragnaros swung his hammer onto the ground violently causing everyone to fly in the air, everyone including Markeen were swept of their feet, some more than others, several players landed in the larva and were forced to find a way of climbing up. As soon as Markeen landed, the party changed again recovering the aggro lost, all the healers concentrated on healing him, supported by the mass dps the damage being dealt was massive.

It wasn't long before Ragnaros was on his last 10% on health, several players had fallen in the larva from the constant 'wrath of Ragnaros' attacks which disrupted healing. Markeen still on high health from the healing he then rallied everyone for a final charge, "This is it guys, one final push and we're done!" he then charged followed by everyone, everyone started yelling and unleashed everything they had against him, mass amounts of damage flew into him from the ranged dps and it wasn't long before Ragnaros fell to the floor, dead.

The party erupted in cheers as everyone celebrated the recent victory, one by one, everyone approached the body of Ragnaros and looted the corpse of the fire demon, Dafti approached the body and looked inside to see what he could find, inside was a bow called 'wrath of Ragnaros' named after its ability, the bow is a spiked flaming bow, it's stats listed;

**Wrath of Ragnaros **

Item level 2050

Soulbound

Ranged

1190- 2270

(900 damage per second)

+500 agility

+700 Stamina

Looking at the stats he equipped the bow looking pleased with himself, during the cheers one by one the party members left the group until only Traional, Dafti and Markeen remained, "Well done guys" Markeen said proudly.

Dafti bowed at him, "Thanks for all the advice, you're a great raid leader"

Makeeen laughed, "No need for flattery, this is my last day in this game as I wish to pursue other games, I've missed out on so many other games because of this game"

"18 years isn't it?" Traional said intrigued, "That's a long time to be playing, enjoy the new games you'll be playing"

"Thanks guys, I hope to meet you both again in the future" Makeen added before logging out.

Trainal and Dafti stood there for a few moments in silence, "Want to get food?" Traional asked.

"Sure" Dafti said before logging out.


	2. An unexpected delivery

**Chapter 2 - An unexpected delivery**

Dylan sat at his desk on a black chair slouched backwards with is head resting on the chair, hands on his chest and breathing slowly. On his desk a desktop computer stood on the floor connected to two monitors, a keyboard and mouse with a small lamp lighting the darkened room. With messy brown hair, green eyes and a skinny body Dylan sat there slightly fatigued from the raid. His body with its lack of muscle instantly shows the lack of exercise he does. On shelves statues of dragons and incense holders stood there giving a fantasy like look to the room, the smell of incense was strong and Dylan sat there taking in all the smells and sights his room had to offer.

The door opened and a figure walked in, slightly taller than Dylan with curly brown hair with glasses wearing a checked shirt he stood there the entrance of the room looking the messy floor, "Want to get food?"

Bacon cooked over the frying pan with a kettle boiling and English muffins in the toaster, Braden sat at the table, both keeping silent for several moments, "The raid was really fun" Dylan said flipping over a piece of bacon on the pan.

"It was, I'm happy we managed to get round to finishing it but it was really tiring" Braden said tiredly.

"Tell me about it, but it's given me an empty feeling, like I don't know what to do next" Dylan said as the bacon had finished cooking, the toasted flipped up and the kettle had finished boiling. It wasn't long until 2 cups of tea were made with bacon in an English muffin covered with cheese and bacon were served at the table.

Braden and Dylan began eating the food silently while sipping the tea, after finishing Braden cleared his throat, "I have an idea what to do" He said feeling a little energised.

"I'm listening"

Braden sipped his tea, "Well, as you know I spend a lot of time on Reddit and virtual reality is finally a thing"

"Seriously… wow" Dylan said sounding amazed.

"It gets better" Braden added, "The device is called the NerveGear and it's a helmet bigger than the Oculus rift, when you put it on your head and you go into games and it interacts with your brain allowing you to move in the game without moving in real life, anyway a Japanese game called Sword art online is being released internationally, it's just been through beta in Japan and has received amazing reviews, no bugs, nothing" he said excitedly.

"That sounds amazing but expensive, I don't think I can afford the NerveGear"

"The best part is they've held competitions to win copies of the game just to get people playing and as you can probably guess, I've won 2 copies complete with 2 nerve gears!" he yelled excitedly.

Dylan sat there for a few moments, "Nice! When does It arrive, we need to play at launch!"

"Don't worry we will, it should arrive today, it launches tomorrow so if the delivery is good then we'll be playing in no time"

"Nice!"

The doorbell rang suddenly, "That must be it" Braden said standing up from the chair, he walked out the kitchen and went towards to wooden door as the end of the corridor, he opened the door and there stood the postman, he was carrying a large box sealed with sellotape. "I have a package for a Mr. Braden" he said looking at his tablet.

"Yep, that's me"

"Please sign here" the postman said handing Braden the tablet and a pen, he accepted the tablet and signed his name before handing it back, "thank you very much, have a nice day" he said before leaving. Braden closed the door and entered the kitchen.

"It's here" he said placing the box on the table. In a matter of moments Braden and Dylan opened the box and removed 2 nerve gears, one being black and the other being white, along with the nerve gear 2 pieces of paper with codes for Sword art Online.

"So which one do you want?" Dylan asked examining the nerve gears, both nerve gears were placed on the table in front of the brothers.

"Urrm…" Braden said thinking, "I'll have the white one if that's cool with you"

"I have no say in it, you're the one who won these like you somehow win everything" Dylan stated, Braden picked up the nerve gear and placed it on his head, the weight caught him of guard and he swung his head left and right to gain balance.

"I think we need to lie down when using these, something this heavy can't be good for your neck" Braden said removing the nerve gear.

"How was it?" Dylan inquired with the nerve gear in his hand.

"It's good, I think it has built in fans to keep you cool while playing, something this bulky which covers the entire head could easily make you sweat."

"Nice, any idea who else is playing?"

Braden sat down for a moment, "No idea, I've discussed this with James but he's quite unpredictable with things like this, especially with getting games at launch"

"Very true, I'm sure we can convince him to play soon, when we get enough money we can bribe him to play" Dylan said laughing.

"Anyway, let's redeem these codes" Braden said carrying the box, "Take my nerve gear up with you"

Later that evening Braden was chilling on his computer, a set up similar to Dylan's, he looked at the clock which said 03:00, he sighed as he slouched on the chair, Dylan walked in and sat on his bed positioned opposite the computer, on the bed sat the nerve gear all connected to the computer. "I can't take much more of this, I want in!" Braden complained desperately.

"Tell me about it, waiting this long to enter a game is so annoying, reminds me of the time we waited 5 hours to get into World of Warcraft when the newest expansion was released, it will be annoying if the same happens on this game" Dylan said sitting down with his hands closed together.

"It won't be, over the last few months they've constantly been stress testing the game and have put a lot of time and money into securing the servers" he spun his chair around facing Dylan, "The game launches at 13:00 Japanese time which makes sense considering the whole thing's based on a single server"

"True, we'll play a couple of hours tonight then resume playing tomorrow when we're less tired" Dylan said yawning slowly.

"Fair enough, we'll see how it goes" Braden said picking up a magazine, "Apparently you can interact with the entire world, you can touch things and feel things as if it were reality, I'm so hyped for this"

"Yeah, I look forward to exploring the world, meeting interesting people and experience a fantasy, medieval world" Dylan explained enthusiastically, "Anyway, what time is it?"

Braden spun around and looked at his monitor, "its 2:29, so can you leave and we'll meet up in game at 3:00, you know what my name will be"

"Trai.."

Braden interrupted, "Yep, sya".

Dylan got up and walked out of Braden's room and went around the corner to his own room, he sat down at his desk and put some headphones on, he navigated around YouTube until he found relaxing song, he hovered his mouse over Pink Floyd- Wish you were here, and he then clicked play and closed his eyes.

2:59, Dylan looked at the time for a moment and breathed slowly, he turned his computer of and walked over to his nearly made bed and sat down, he looked out the window, it was dark outside with a full moon illuminating the sky, stars darted the clear sky, he began to breathe slowly in his nose and slowly out his mouth to try and keep relaxed. During that 1 minute it seemed like an eternity, he kept checking his phone but it remained 2:29, he continued looking outside, window open with his eyes closed. He wanted to feel the real world before going into the virtual one, a cold breeze hitting his face. Excitement buzzing through his body he checked his phone one last time 3:00, "It's time" he thought to himself.

He placed the nerve gear on his head and turned it on, he positioned himself in bed lying on his back. He closed his eyes, "Link start!"


	3. A different world

**Chapter 3 World of Warcraft – A different world**

The helmet disappeared all around him and a white image appeared, he fell down through different coloured lights, initialisation then started which checked the nerve gear was working, and it cycled through different senses, movement, and taste. It then took him to a language option,

Language: English, UK.

**Login:**

Username: *******

Password: **********

Character creation;

New character;

Dylan selected create a new character which brought him into a character creation screen which looks a lot like the ones you find in mmo's, Dylan cycled through the character creation options going from head size, hair, hair colour, facial hair, body time.

He decided to go for a thin white character with muscles, short brown hair with a beard and yellow eyes.

Character name: Dorran

Do you confirm these settings: Yes

Welcome to Sword art online

Every went white again and he began falling down, everywhere went black, he could feel the senses in his body kicking in he then opened his eyes, around him a large courtyard surrounded by walls appeared, he breathed for the first time, the breath was a heavy one as it was unnatural to virtually breathe inside a game. Equipped with basic leather padding and a white top which you choose during character creation Dorran looked around at the vast number of players entering the game.

The courtyard filled with chatter and laughter as everyone began chatting to one another, finding friends and testing out the limits of the nerve gear, Dorran walked over to a wall on the outside of the courtyard , he pushed past players as he slowly made it so a clear wall with space to breathe and looked out for his brother, meanwhile he checked out the HUD, on the top left it showed his health and his level:

Dorran / 100 HP / Level 1

He then swiped from the left to bring up the addition HUD, 4 circles appeared with addition icons located inside,

Player-

· skills

· Equipment.

· Item

· Quest log

Social

· party members,

· guild members

· Friends.

Chat box

Map

Dorran went inside the equipment option, a screen popped up in front of him, the screen was white with no items and at the bottom of the box is a gold amount, 100g. While Dorran was checking out the options he was met by a familiar face, the person standing opposite stood proudly with black short hair, brown eyes, no beard and similar structure to Braden, "Traional?" Dorran asked assuming this was his brother.

"Yep" Traional said before bursting out laughing, "Your character though" he said in tears of laughter.

"What do you mean?" I asked sounding a little confused.

"The beard, the muscles, the height. You could at least be honest with your character"

Dorran paused for a moment, "I see nothing wrong with this, I'm not honest but I'm more honest than others around here" Dorran stated as he tried to defend himself, "Look around, see how many girls are here, I can safely say some of these are men and in a virtual world like this, it makes me sick thinking about it"

Traional looked around, "Yeah, you're right" with a smirk on his face.

Dorran opened up the HUD and invited Traional to a party and a friend request, Traional accepted both requests and opened up his HUD, he spent several minutes exploring the interfaces, "We need to buy a weapon" Traional stated.

Dorran nodded in agreement, "Yep, I think we're in a town so there's probably a few merchants around so we should probably start there".

The courtyard was beginning to fill up as hundreds of players entered every second, the courtyard was filled with chatter while players left the courtyard to explore the town, groups of friends gathered together while solo players ventured on independently.

Traional and Dorran made their way out of the courtyard and found themselves in a rather large city, the streets were filled with houses, vendors and pubs in a maze like structure. The structure of the architecture itself is medieval as the streets and houses and made of stone with wooden structures depending on the place, Dorran and Traional ventured through the streets not knowing where to go, while walking down an open street a map was posted a wooden post which gave information about the town and the surrounding areas.

Traional gazed upon the town for a few moments, "So… this is the town of beginnings" he muttered to himself, after a few moments of inspecting the map Traional backed away and faced Dorran, "So basically, this is the town of beginnings so the first town in the mmo, to the north is the trade district, to the east are restaurants and taverns, South is made up of houses and parks and West is the room of Resurrection so the place you respawn if you die and the courtyard is the black iron palace" he explained examining the map further.

"Cool, so to the merchant then to get equipped" Dorran suggested walking to the North. The streets were filled with players, it was said that 100,000 copies were sold internationally meaning just under that amount had logged in with the remainder logging in when given the opportunity. Because of the amount of players logging in in a short period of time the bottle neck affect takes place, the bottle neck affect applies when you have a quest which requires the gathering of a specific item or items from monsters, as it's common for respawn times to take place in NPC's and monsters and a specific amount of that quest item is available at once meaning players are forced to wait until the quest clears up while players getting through are given the opportunity to steamroll ahead.

Dorran and Traional entered the merchant district, just like the other visited areas, this was filled with players, the area was filled with wooden stands selling all kinds of things like weapons, armour, food and luxuries. Players filled the streets browsing items, chatting and exploring the town. They slowly walked though looking around for anything of value until they were interrupted by a player, he was wearing the starter gear and had short black hair, "Hey guys, names Arata, I'm creating a guild known as the Silver hand so I've been trying to recruit members into the guild to get an early lead" he held out a piece of parchment, "Sign here and when we get enough members the guild with be automatically created"

Traional interrupted him, "Me and my friend won't join a cheap guild which takes its name from World of Warcraft, using things like that is just wrong"

"Well… it's nice to see a fellow Warcraft player here, anyway just like the Silver hand in Warcraft, we aim to be knights of justice and punish those who defy us… Roleplaying of course" He said losing a little confidence.

"It's too early to begin Roleplaying, we'll see in a few weeks but now we need to level" Dorran said as he started walking off into the crowd followed by Traional. Arata was left speechless and he was ignored and everyone else who walked walking past.

After spending a few moments weaving past the crowd Traional stopped for a moment, "Hey, want to go off by ourselves for a while, we'll quest together but there's a few things I want to do on my own if that's ok"

Looking a little puzzled Dorran agreed and stood there as Traional left, he shortly received a message from Traional, - "Sorry for leaving you like that, I want to find some friends who might be playing and other people I may know in this game, I'll also buy a weapon. Meet later?" Traional then left the group.

Dorran shortly replied, -"Sure, let me know when you're ready"-

Dorran soon found a weapons store, the store was along the main northern street which is covered with stands selling all kinds of goods like weapons and armour, a crowd of people gathered around the stand like most stands were, at the front a player was attempting to haggle the stand owner for an item.

"Like I said, I'm not selling a katana worth 500g for 50g" the owner said angrily.

"But we only start with 100g and I'm meant to buy all my equipment for that?" The player countered aggressively.

The argument raged on between the two, this argument was holding back the line but everyone kept quiet just to be polite, in front of Dorran a girl with pale skin stood there, she had long dark brown hair and was wearing the common starter gear, with no weapon she waited patiently along with the other players being held up.

"This is taking too long" Dorran said trying to get the attention of someone in the crowd.

She turned around and nodded in agreement, "Why doesn't someone stop him?" she suggested.

"That's not a bad idea" said another player who approached the two players, he had dark brown skin with short black hair.

Dorran scratched his head slowly, "Yeah, I would do that but I'm British so it's kind of against the stereotype"

"Yours British?" The male player said repeating Dorran, "It's strange that I can understand you then"

Dorran looked a bit puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"Well I'm from China and you're speaking perfect Chinese, unless of course you speak Chinese?"

"Nope, was never taught Chinese, from my prospective everyone here is speaking English" Dorran explained.

"It's an in game feature" the girl said looking through a manual, "it says here that that every language is instantly translated includes phrases to those of a similar meaning like insults and so on" She explained, "And just for the record I'm Japanese"

"That's a really cool feature but it makes the need of expressing your culture that more important" Dorran said deeply.

"You'll see that in the way people will play this game, while it will be hard to tell for most players, I'm sure there will be guilds popping up based around different cultures like you said, I image lots of Asian based players will be going for Samurai based builds while more western players will be going for more medieval chivalric styles" The male replied.

"By the way, the names Dorran" Dorran said introducing himself.

"Gina" the girl said following Dorran

"Cool names, I'm Chen" Chen said bowing

"Nice to meet you both, how much experience do you have in this genre?" Gina asked curiously.

"I don't have a lot" Chen admitted, "I've played a lot of fantasy RPG games like elder scrolls, Dragonage and so on, because this game is so different to traditional MMO's, I thought I'd try it"

"That's cool, Elder scroll and dragonage games are great, I've played lots of games, in terms of MMO's I've spent the last few years playing World of Warcraft so I know a thing or two about playing these kinds of games and the behaviour which comes with it" Dorran explained reciting back to his days of Warcraft.

"I haven't really played many games" Gina stated, "My family have been against gaming so I was encouraged to do sports instead, I've trained in Kendo, Karate and Gymnastics so I guess those things give me experience in a virtual world like this" Gina explained feeling slightly out of place.

Dorran smiled at both of them, "I imagine in a game like this, real world experiences count for more than mashing buttons on a game"

By now the two people were continuing to argue, "Leave now" the Stood owner demanded.

"You have no right to tell me to leave, I'm not leaving until I'm satisfied"

After a while of arguing they were finally interrupted by a player with long blue hair and pale skin, "It's pointless arguing with an NPC" he said getting the attention of the player holding everyone up

"How do you know that?" he said angrily

"Because it says in the book about all the different abilities you can learn, one being bartering" he said passively before leaving.

Knowing his cause was lost he retreated into the streets and disappeared. With him gone the players were now free to browse the items of sale at the stand, the three acquaintances approached the stand once it had been freed up. The stand was filled with weapons ranging from Katanas to spears which were neatly placed, "Welcome to my store" The owner announced, "As level 1 players you have the ability to buy basic swords like short swords or plain Rapiers, the choice is yours"

Dorran pondered for a few moments, "I'll take the basic short sword please"

Dorran was handed a basic sword with an iron blade and a wooden cross guard, the item was placed in his inventory and a scabbard was automatically placed on his side. Going into his Item section he viewed the item.

Basic short sword

Basic

1-3 Damage

After viewing the item he equipped it and it was placed in his scabbard on his side and the drew out the sword in an open space, holding the sword in his hand, Dorran felt the weight on the sword, although not perfectly balanced he practised a few swings to get used to holding it.

He was soon approached by Gina and Chen, "Hey guys" Dorran said happily approaching the two acquaintances.

"Hey, it's been cool meeting you two but I'm meeting some friends so I'll catch you lot later" Chen said waving goodbye leaving Gina and Dorran left standing there.

"So do you have any friends in the game?" Gina asked standing opposite Dorran next to the market stand.

Dorran grinned at Gina, although knowing the risks of guys playing as females as a way of getting attention he tried not to suck up for her to much like a guy naturally does to female characters, "Urrm.. yeah I have a brother who's also playing, we were partied up earlier but he had to find some other friends, what about you?" Dorran Inquired.

Gina put her hands over her chin for a moment, "I don't really know anyone playing, like I mentioned earlier I play lot of sports so all my friends are into those kind of things as well, My uncle could be playing but I have no idea what he's called" Gina chuckled to herself quietly.

"Want to party up and begin questing? I don't want to waste too much time in the town of beginnings" Dorran stated looking at the time in the HUD, the time read 4:33.

Gina nodded confidently to Dorrans proposal and accepted the party invite Dorran requested, on the left hand screen a party box appeared naming the party members along with their health status. They then ran on down the street into the distance…


	4. Unforeseeable consequences

**Chapter 4- Unforeseeable Consequences**

Dorran and Gina found themselves in a near empty grassland, the grassland was stretched around the town of beginnings and is the first questing area for new players. The grassland has a very peaceful vibe, the sun stretching out over the sky illuminating the lush landscape, trees darted the area creating temperament shade for those wishing to escape the sun. A dirt path cut through the field into the distance while animals such as boars and wolves grazed on the lush field with normal animal behaviour. The area was darted with players questing and killing monsters, as the first questing area this area had quite a few players killing the vast quantities of beasts constantly available although the majority of players kept themselves inside the town of beginnings to explore the town inside.

Dorran stood there next to Gina with his quest log open, "It says here we need to gather 10 chunks of boar meat for 20 gold and the choice between 2 wrist bands with different stats and we get some cooked boar stew" Dorran explained.

Gina sat on the grassy floor feeling the grass with her hands, "This feels so realistic" Gina awed, she closed her eyes and took in the feeling of touching the grass, "It's amazing how something so virtual can be so realistic at the same time"

Dorran chuckled to himself, "I'm feeling the same, this place is so magical"

Gina picked herself up and stood upright, "We should probably start killing these boars, any idea how to fight?" she had her sword in her hand and swung it left and right, Dorran opened up his HUD and started looking in the skills tab.

Skills-

Jap – Lunge your sword at the target dealing 3x the weapon damage.

Dorran pondered for a few moments, "It says here we have an ability called Jab which I'm guessing is the base ability, we deal 3x the weapon damage and I'm guessing to use this ability we have to actually Jab and that should activate the ability" Dorran tried to explain attempting to sound like he knew how to play.

With the sword in her hand Gina lifted her sword, she lifted the sword at neck height with the sword pointed forwards, as she lifted the sword in the position, it glowed blue and she lunged forwards tearing through the air, slicing the quiet breeze, she landed on her feet, her heart racing with a huge grin on her face, "That was amazing" she expressed excitedly, "I'm ready to begin questing".

Dorran smiled at Gina after completing the sword ability, "It looks straight forward enough, I imagine it will take some practise to use is effectively"

Gina swung her sword into the air and catching it with her other hand, "This feels really good, I can't wait to continue"

The two player's encountered a wild boar, its fat brown hairy body covered 4 small legs, its hairy face covering a snout, and it had 2 large tusks coming from its bottom jaw which aggressively showed sign of its strength, although all boars looked almost identical, seeing them in a virtual reality setting really showed the realism to the game.

Level 1 Boar, HP 13/13

Above the boar, a health bar appeared much like the players health bar, the full green bar indicating it's on full health, standing a few yards away Dorran and Gina waited patiently, "Want to go first?" Dorran offered standing to the size giving Gina a clear view of the boar, she stood firm spreading her legs out and raising her sword.

She smiled confidently at Dorran, "Here I go" she then charged towards the boar with her sword aimed directly in front of her body, as she got closer the boar sensed the incoming attack and grunted loudly before charging, seeing the direct attack Gina side stepped, the boar ran past her missing the attack but with the momentum she had gained from the charge, she powered up her ability, the sword glowed blue as she sliced through the boar at its side. The attack delivered 9 damage + an addition 3 damage from flanking the boar.

The boar stood there simulating pain, its health of red right at the end of the bar, under the health bar its health stated HP 1/13 the boar automatically charged at Gina grunting and gaining speed, Gina spread out her legs again and held the sword with both hands, the sword facing sideways in a defensive position, when was only a few meters away she charged slicing the boar in the face, it then teared through its body, the boar exploded and the result screen appeared;

Result

Exp 24

Gold 30

Items 2 – 1 chunk of boar meat

1 Boar liver

Dorran stood there, it mouth dropped at the way Gina managed kill the boar, both players obtained experience from killing the boar and a small blue bar appeared under the health simulating experience, Gina sheathed the sword on her back and approached Dorran who starred at her in amazement, "That was… amazing" Dorran complimented, "As a new player to mmo's you're definitely a natural"

Gina stroked her hair slightly and smiled at Dorran, "Thanks, I guess my practise in Kendo has been useful in this game after all, I'm surprised it has really"

Dorran laughed suddenly, "I guess this makes all veteran players on the same level if not below those do did exercise besides gaming, ironic don't you think?" Dorran said jokingly before going quiet for a moment.

"I think you're wrong" Gina admitted, "Yes people who do sports know things from real life experiences but we know nothing besides the real world, people like you who have played mmo's know all the mechanics and how world like these work"

"I didn't offend you did I, because if I did then that wasn't my intention" Dorran added as he apologised, he went red with nerves as he assumed he had accidentally offended Gina.

Gina giggled, "Don't worry, no offence taken any way you still need to kill a boar" she removed her sword and lifted it into the air, Dorran followed and soon both swords were in the air as they yelled in celebration.

"That was random but now I'm ready, let's kill these pigs!" Dorran declared charging at the nearest boar.

Roughly half an hour later Dorran and Gina stood on a grassy hill overlooking the countryside, behind them, the town of beginnings stood proudly around the countryside, the sun was beginning to set and the two party members watched the surrounding area begin to get dark, Dorran opened up his inventory and examined the items, "I've got 5 chunks of boar meat, 3 livers and two boar pelts, what about you?" Dorran asked Gina who was also in her inventory.

"I also have 5 chunks and I have 4 livers and 1 hunk of boar meat" Gina added looking pleased with herself, the exp for both players stood at about 1/5th of the way through level 1.

Dorran stretched his arms and yawned loudly, "I think I might hand in this quest and log out, I've been up for 19 hours so yeah…"

Gina looked surprised, "Wow, you must be tired but that's fine we can hand in the quest and say our goodbyes" her voice was calm and relaxed and we began making our way to the quest giver to hand in the chunks of boar meet in return of a reward, the quest giver is outside the main gate into the town of beginnings, a batcher of sorts who needs the meat to do some cooking such as the quest reward for stew.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the stand in which the quest giver is placed, players were already there accepting and completing the quest, we waited in queue for a few minutes until it was our turn to converse with him, "Weave collected the boar chunks you requested" Dorran announced to the quest giver. A box appeared on the players screen;

Quest for the boar chunks

Requirements 10x boar chunks

Complete

Dorran selected complete, another box when appeared;

Quest reward;

300 exp

20 gold

Wristband of the boar – 5 armour

+ 3 Agility

Or

+ 3 Strength

Dorran thought for a few moments, particularly the play style he wanted to play, in traditional mmo's you could choose a class to play as and that would determine your skill set and stats but in a game where you have to create your own style, it takes some thought. Dorran thought for a few moments, the choice could either be a more agile player or one with more health, knowing Gina would most likely go for agility it made the most sense to go for strength. Dorran selected the +3 strength, after selecting the quest reward he gained 300 experience which appeared on his experience bar and the screen stated that 20 gold and the wristband had been added to his inventory.

Dorran moved away from the stand and approached Gina who stood there looking at her inventory, the HUD was in front of her and she navigated her way around until she found the wristbands, she selected them and they appeared on her wrist, the wristbands were brown leather with fur underneath, she then exited the HUD and greeted Dorran, "Hey, so you said you'd be going off" she said sounding a little disappointed.

Dorran look at the clock which was displayed on the bottom right, "It's 5:20 so I'm guessing my brother has logged of, anyway it's been really amazing to meet you, you're a really friendly person and it's going to be cool to meet up again in the future" Dorran smiled, his body shaking at the thought of leaving the world.

"Same with me, thanks for questing with me and helping me learn how to fight, it's probably quite late for you" her eyes showing a little sadness as she said fair well so her first friend in this new world.

Dorran chuckled slowly, "It's not fair to say I showed you everything, your fighting was unbelievable" Dorran reflected over the previous battles with the boars. The sun was now dipping over the horizon as flocks of birds flew into the distance, great shadows crept onto the surrounding area and a beautiful dusk sky appeared over the top of the first floor. Both Dorran and Gina marvelled in wonder at the majestic beauty of the sky, lying down of their backs Dorran signed, "It's sad to be leaving now, if I had the chance I could stay like this for ever" he marvelled as philosophical thoughts entered his head.

Gina, also amazed by the beauty of the world just lied there without saying a word, no words could really describe the way she looked into the sky of a game, "It's strange how something so virtual like this can make you feel so many human emotions, this entire world has been made by someone and yet we're perceiving this as if it's reality"

The peace was disturbed when the clock hit 5:30, bells started ringing throughout the area, the bells echoed throughout the first floor gaining everyone's attention, "What's this?" Gina pondered as she looked around the area.

Dorran had his HUD opened and looked scared, his eyes wide open revealing his bright orange eyes, sweat dripped from his forehead, "The logout button… it's gone!"

Before Gina could respond the sky blackened and they were teleported back to the black iron palace, they arrived standing in the middle a crowd of people constantly being teleported in, confusion spread throughout the crowd as no one had any idea what was happening. Dorran and Gina stood together in the middle of the crowd, "What's happening?" Dorran said attempting to get any answers. By now the courtyard was now filled with all 10,000 players and the huge crowd burst into confusion.

"Is this some kind of event?" shouted a player standing by.

"It's probably the first day event, it's common for mmo's for have these kind of events but I had no idea it would be so sudden" said another.

The courtyard was filled with chatter with players attempting to explain what was going on, Dorran stood there looking around, the sky was pitch black and the bell continued ringing, the bell being positioned above the courtyard echoed giving a very uncomfortable atmosphere, people looked scared not knowing what was going on.

The bells stopped silencing everyone, the air remained still and a very tense silence lingered throughout the players, whispers were scattered but the vast majority of players kept their silence. A warning sign appeared above the courtyard, it began beeping flashing red. It then spread throughout the entire floor saying Warning and System announcement in red polygons, it spread into a dome like shape covering the sky. It them began dripping with red liquid which looks a lot like blood, it then dripped down forming a red cloaked figure which towered over everyone.

"Game master?" was continuously said throughout the crowd, some assuming the game master was here to welcome the players to the game.

Gina stood there shaking slightly, she held onto Dorrans arm for comfort but none of that seemed to work, Dorran starred on towards the game master, "he looks a little strange for a game master" Dorran pondered.

"Attention players, welcome to my world" the cloaked figure announced, "My name is Kayaba Akihiko, as of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."

"Kayaba…" Dorran said slowly as he tried to remember who this person was.

"That's the guy who created Sword art online" someone in front of Dorran said turning around, the figure looked familiar, brown skin with short black hair.

"Chen?" Dorran asked curiously.

Chen smirked, "Good you remember, I haven't forgotten the conversation we had earlier" he then turned around paying close attention to Kayaba.

"I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu, but this is not a defect in the game, I repeat this is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword art online" Kayaba announced.

Whispers spread throughout the crowd questioning the things being said, people looked on terrified of what they were hearing but had little choice about it.

"You cannot log out of SAO yourselves and no one from the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear, should this be attempted the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave destroying your brain and ending your life"

Chen looked angrily at Kayaba, "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" he shouted angrily crunching his fist in a ball.

Dorran placed his hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry man" Dorran said attempting to calm him down. Chen ignored him and looked on.

Gina also looking terrified had her hands over her face with a small tear in her eye, "This is bad" she cried, her voice quiet and scarred, Dorran held her hand tightly and looked at her in the eye, "It's not over yet, there has to be a way out"

"Is this some kind of experiment" yelled a voice in Kayaba's direction, this was completely ignored as more people started shouting in his direction.

"Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the NerveGear, As a result, 213 players have gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world. Kayaba continued.

"Seriously" Dorran thought to himself, "That's too many people to die so soon in life"

"Poor souls" Chen added sounding really concerned, "being killed by family is such a terrible fate to have".

"As you can see, news organisations across the world are reporting this including all the deaths" he then brought up live news streams across the world, news stories flickered around the sky showing people who have died and coverage of the stories, written in different languages this truly was an international crisis. "Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear bring removed now is minimal, I hope you can relax and attempt to clear the game.

"Sick bastard!" shouted someone angrily, insults started being said as everyone terrified refused to believe what was being said.

"But I want you to remember this clearly, there is no longer any method to revive someone within the game, if your HP drops to zero your avatar will be lost and simultaneously, the nerve gear will destroy your brain.

Everyone looked on despite what was being said, transfixed on the information being said, tears were being shed with those around attempting to comfort them but the atmosphere remained still and dry.

"There is only one means of escape, to complete the game" he then showed a holographic view of Aincrad showing all the levels. "If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the floor boss you may advance to the next level, defeat the boss on floor 100 and you will clear the game"

Voices started questioning what he had just said, as everyone tried to make sense of everything being said.

"Clear 100 floors without dying?" Dorran said to himself, "How is that even possible?"

"And finally, I've added a present from to me your item storage, please see for yourselves"

Dorran including everyone around him opened up their HUD's and went into Items, inside is an item called mirror, looking at it for a few moments he selected it, a mirror spawned into his hands including those around him, looking into the mirror he saw his own reflection. Suddenly everyone around him began glowing blue, Dorran soon began glowing as everyone freaked out in response. The courtyard glowed bright blue, so bright everything around the players became invisible.

Everything intensified as Dorran found himself standing amongst different faces, he looked around for Gina but couldn't find her in the sea for people looking shocked at the sudden change.

Dorran looked into the mirror and found himself looking at himself from the real world, his muscles recused to skin and bone and his facial hair he put so much time making was gone, he stood there beardless with messy brown hair with a younger face. He was startled by a tap on the shoulder, he turned around to see Gina standing there with a near identical face and body to her avatar, she still had pale skin with long dark hair which went down past her shoulders, her large blue eyes and soft skin made Dorran stare at her for a few moments. "Hey" Dorran said nervously, "Urrmm…" Dorran looked at himself in the mirror again, "I would like to introduce you to the real Dorran, the one without the beard or muscles nor with the same height"

A tear ran down her eye, "I honestly don't care, you're still the same person I met earlier" she happily acknowledged. Dorran offered his hand to Gina who instantly accepted it, they held their hands in an agreement of friendship.

"Guys…" a voice said behind them, standing there was a bulky black bald man who looked middle aged, "Gina and Dorran right" he cautiously asked.

"Chen?" Dorran asked with a huge smile on his face.

Chen rubbed his forehead with his arm, "I kind of lied about being Chinese, I wanted to be a cool Chinese warrior so I went for a traditional name I found online to go with it but I guess that didn't work out, I'm actually American, so yeah"

Throughout the courtyard people were reacting to their new forms, as is common in mmo's you always get guys who play girls, people began freaking out everywhere about girls they'd just met turning into guys, argument soon erupted. There will still a lot of girls logged within the game but this allowed all the false girls being forced to deal with the consequences of lying about their genders.

Everywhere went quiet once again, "Right now, you're probably wondering, "Why?". Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of sword art online and the NerveGear, do all this? My goal has already been achieved, I created Sword Art Online for one reason… To create this world and intervene in it. And now, it's complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch, Good Luck, players."

Silence fell upon the crowd one last time, no whispers or sounds being made, dead still. Kayaba dissolved into thin air and the sky returned to normal, speechless everyone lost for words.

A girl in the crowd began screaming causing a chain reaction, soon everyone began facing the touch reality of what was happening, scream and shouts echoed the scene creating a horrific atmosphere. People were on their knees, in tears looking absolutely terrified.

Gina stood there quietly, she was shaking and began sweating, tears ran down her eyes as she looked shaken up by the whole experience, "What now?" she asked quietly in a restless manor.

Dorran looked around, the majority of players remained standing in their positions while other players found the courage to venture fourth into Aincrad, "We survive and we win" Dorran said confidently in a desperate hope to lift the spirits of some shaken players.

Dorran, Gina and Chen walked through the crowd of players still afraid and lost in the situation, when they were close to the exit Dorran heard a familiar voice, "Dylan!" shouted a player who looked strangely familiar to Dorran, instantly knowing who it was Dorran ran towards the player. He was a few inches taller than Dorran and had curly brown hair with dark brown eyes, he slowly approached Dorran and greeted his brother

Dorran and Traional smiled at each other in relief, "It's good to see you brother" Traional said looking relived, "Sorry I had to leave earlier, a friend messaged me in game so I had to find him and we then started exploring"

Dorran laughed loudly, "It sounds exciting, honestly I'm a bit shaken up by what just happened so want to find a pub to start discussing things" Dorran suggested looking on the map.

**To be continued...**


End file.
